In 1847–1861, Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky, who is depicted in this portrait, was the governor-general of Eastern Siberia, then stretching to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The service in this region became the best page of his biography. In 1858, Muravyov concluded the Treaty of Aigun without shedding any blood. According to the treaty, China returned the Russian lands along the Amur, and Alexander II awarded Muravyov with the title of the Count of Amur (hence Amursky).

After Muravyov-Amursky left Irkutsk, the grateful residents decided to commission a portrait of the man, who had done so much for the city and the entire region. Initially, they addressed a fellow countryman, Mikhail Peskov, who at that time, thanks to the support of Muravyov-Amursky, was studying at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Peskov handed the order over to his fellow student — Konstantin Makovsky, a young, promising artist.

The count is portrayed on the deck of a ship sailing along the Amur. With his right hand, he leaned on the ‘Map of the Amur Country, annexed to Russia’. In the ceremonial portrait, Makovsky manages to create an astonishingly realistic image of a prominent statesman. The portrait had an overwhelming success at the one-year exhibition at the Academy of Arts. Everybody was unanimous in their opinion — one more great portrait painter appeared in Russia. After the exhibition, the work was sent to customers in Irkutsk.

In 1890, Fyodor Bulgakov noted in his fundamental work ‘Our Artists’,

The portrait of Muravyov-Amursky became the first major work of Konstantin Makovsky. The artist’s mentor was the famous Moscow portrait painter Vasily Tropinin. Makovsky did not graduate from the Academy of Arts: he was among the 14 students who refused to take part in the painting competition and create a work based on the topic that had been chosen by the teachers. The young men preferred to leave the Academy, and the episode came to be known as the ‘Riot of Fourteen’.

In 1863, together with other participants of the ‘Riot’, Makovsky joined the Artists' association (artel’), whose members rented one large room and ran the household together. Makovsky quickly became famous and began to earn so much that he soon rented a separate workshop in the very center of the city. He left the artel’ and became one of the most popular Russian artists of his time.